diff --git a/docs/docs/options.md b/docs/docs/options.md
index 97d2df0ba..d1b98b09d 100644
--- a/docs/docs/options.md
+++ b/docs/docs/options.md
@@ -189,6 +189,14 @@ Options can be passed via data attributes or JavaScript. For data attributes, ap
       <p>The text displayed when a search doesn't return any results.</p>
     </td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>searchSubtext</td>
+    <td>boolean</td>
+    <td><code>true</code></td>
+    <td>
+      <p>When set to <code>false</code>, searching will ignore subtext. When set to <code>true</code> searching will include subtext.
+    </td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>selectAllText</td>
     <td>string</td>
diff --git a/js/bootstrap-select.js b/js/bootstrap-select.js
index 7055df413..ea17b4dfb 100644
--- a/js/bootstrap-select.js
+++ b/js/bootstrap-select.js
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@
   };
   // </editor-fold>
 
-  function stringSearch (li, searchString, method, normalize) {
+  function stringSearch (li, searchString, method, normalize, searchSubtext) {
     var stringTypes = [
           'display',
           'subtext',
@@ -401,6 +401,10 @@
         ],
         searchSuccess = false;
 
+    if (!searchSubtext) {
+        stringTypes.splice(1, 1);
+    }
+
     for (var i = 0; i < stringTypes.length; i++) {
       var stringType = stringTypes[i],
           string = li[stringType];
@@ -971,6 +975,7 @@
     liveSearchPlaceholder: null,
     liveSearchNormalize: false,
     liveSearchStyle: 'contains',
+    searchSubtext: true,
     actionsBox: false,
     iconBase: classNames.ICONBASE,
     tickIcon: classNames.TICKICON,
@@ -2982,7 +2987,7 @@
               var li = that.selectpicker.main.data[i];
 
               if (!cache[i]) {
-                cache[i] = stringSearch(li, q, searchStyle, normalizeSearch);
+                cache[i] = stringSearch(li, q, searchStyle, normalizeSearch, that.options.searchSubtext);
               }
 
               if (cache[i] && li.headerIndex !== undefined && cacheArr.indexOf(li.headerIndex) === -1) {
@@ -3306,7 +3311,7 @@
           var li = that.selectpicker.current.data[i],
               hasMatch;
 
-          hasMatch = stringSearch(li, keyHistory, 'startsWith', true);
+          hasMatch = stringSearch(li, keyHistory, 'startsWith', true, that.options.searchSubtext);
 
           if (hasMatch && that.selectpicker.view.canHighlight[i]) {
             matches.push(li.element);